Crypt form



R. HITTEL CRYPT FORM March 18, 1969 Sheet Filed April 11, 1966 24 INVENTOR. 23 R ERT HITTEL 5 BY ATTORNEYQ March 18, 1969 R. HITTEIL 3,433,451

CRYPT FORM Filed April 11, 1966 Sheet 3 0f 2 'INVENTOR.

OBERT HITTEL I ATTORNE United States Patent C 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A form for the pouring of concrete crypts including a bent pan portion supported on removable base members and having internally disposed bails for engagement of removal hooks.

This invention relates to a crypt form.

Current funerary practices give wider sanction to the use of crypts for burials of a type in which a series of compartments, disposed side by side and in tiers, permit the entombment of a larger number of persons per area than is the case with conventional ground burials. The practical method of producing crypt structures is by pouring concrete over forms, and, since the nature of the structure is cellular, repetition of the location and removal of forms is a construction feature.

This invention is directed to the provision of a simple, low-cost form for crypt construction.

One of the features of crypt construction of the type described is that the crypts are closed with marble facings, blank when the crypts are unoccupied, but suitably engraved with the identity of the incumbents subsequent to interment. The marble facings are cut rectangularly at a quarry, or stone-finishing works, and proper indexing of the facings with the crypt openings is a matter of major significance. In the construction of crypts with forms in the manner described in the within specification, it is of the utmost importance that dimensional spacing be observed within the tolerance of one-thirtysecond of an inch, at most. Conformance to such tolerances is diflicult with metal crypt forms of the type employing linkages, secured by bolts, or similar fastenings. The bolts, bolt holes, and linkages rapidly become contaminated with waste concrete. This affects the precision with which the forms of that type can be located. Even a few cumulative errors in location will result in the failure of the crypt openings to register with the facings. Thus one of the objects of the invention is to provide crypt forms which can be located with the required accuracy, thus avoiding the difliculties arising from cumulative locational errors.

In the drawings, FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one of my forms, located on a slab and backed against a wall, prior to the pour; FIG. 2. is a sectional view along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1; FIG. 3 is a sectional view along the line of 3-3 of FIG. 2. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a completed crypt tier with a removal yoke in place, preliminary to the removal and relocation of the crypt forms, the base elements for the relocation of the pans being already implaced on the next tier of the crypt array.

Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows a slab, 1, broken away, with a back wall, 2, likewise broken away. The slab is normally of poured concrete and the back wall frequently of cinder block.

In the practice of my invention, I utilize a pan, 10, of light gauge sheet metal, flexible enough so that the sides may be drawn inwardly with moderate hand effort. The pan has side stiffening members, 11-11, and top stiffening members, 12-12. Near one end of the pan are a set of removal bails, 13-13. The lower portions of the pan are bent inwardly to form flanges, 14-14. The angle is not critical.

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The pan is located on a pair of base elements, 21-21, having horizontal members, 22-22, and vertical members, 23-23. The vertical members are bevelled at angles, 24-24, which are supplements of the angles of the flanges, 14-14.

The first step in the practice of my invention is to locate a series of the base elements, 21-21, spaced to the width of the crypt, on a slab and secure them removably as by nailing so that during the course of the pour they will remain firmly in place. When the base elements have been properly located, Ithen locate one of the pans, 10, on each pair of base elements. It will be noted that the length of the base elements is somewhat greater than the length of the pan and, customarily, the one end of the pan is disposed in contact with the back Wall, 2.

In addition to the pan and base elements, the form members include Ts, 25-25, shown in dash-dot lines in FIG. 1, and horizontal members, 26, disposed between the Ts as shown in dash-dot lines at the top of FIG. 1. These are located at the front of the crypt as shown in FIG. 1. While the normal depth of a crypt is about eight feet, crypts may be built of sixteen foot depth for two bodies in tandem, so to speak, when I find it desirable to use intermediate Ts, 29-29, to support the pans. The interior linear stifieners, 28-28, and transverse stitfeners, 27-27, are also located. When the necessary number of forms have been located to complete the tier of crypts to be poured, concrete is then poured in the spaces be tween the pans and above the pans to the desired depthnormally the level of the tops of the Ts and horizontal members and permitted to set. If intermediate Ts, 29, are used, they are withdrawn before the concrete sets. When the concrete is set, the first step for removing the forms is to remove the stiffeners, 27, 28, other members, 25, 26, and withdraw the nails engaging the base elements, 21, with the slab, 1, and then remove the base elements from their position on the slab. This will leave the pan, 10, suspended in position. As the base elements are withdrawn from their position in the poured crypt they are relocated on the slab above, re-nailed and are in position for the next pour, as shown in FIG. 4.

Then a removal chain with hooks on either end is located in engagement with the removal bails, 13-13, and a moderate tug on the pull cord, 31, will cause the sides of the pans to move inwardly and be disengaged from the set concrete of the crypt whence the pan, 10, drops to the slab and can be easily pulled from the crypt and relocated on the tier of base elements above for the next pour.

It should be obvious from this description that by the practice of my method and the use of my crypt forms, the necessary forms can be located promptly without the use of extensive skilled carpentry. The forms are likewise readily removable from one construction site to another and, when not in use, can be nested and stored in a construction yard in a minimum of space.

Having fully described my invention, I claim:

1. A crypt form, comprising, in combination,

a pair of base members having a horizontal portion and a vertical portion, the top of the vertical portions being bevelled,

the angles of the bevels of each of said members being approximately the same,

said base members being disposed in spaced, parallel relationship, the width of the interior of a crypt, and when so disposed, the apices of the angles of the bevels on the vertical portions being on the inner sides of said vertical members relative to the interior of the crypt,

a pan portion of sheet metal having a near end and far end, bent into approximate parallelepipedal form with an open side and open ends, the bottoms of each side being flanged, the flanges being bent upwardly at an acute angle, said angle being the complement of the angle of the vertical portions of the base members,

the sheet metal of the pan being sufiiciently flexible so that the sides can be moved inwardly toward one another by manual force,

the longest dimension of the pan being less than the longest dimension of the base members,

bails for the engagement of removal hooks disposed on 10 the interior of the pan, contiguous to the bent portion at the bottom of each side thereof,

the near end of the pan having extensions adapted to space vertical end forms of T configuration and support horizontal end forms disposed between said T 15 shaped end forms, and vertical T shaped end forms, and horizontal end forms.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 846,007 3/1907 Bussard 249-184 X 2,486,038 10/ 1949 Landon 249184 X 2,492,893 12/ 1949 Schopf 249-184 3,167,839 2/1965 Gause 2491 85 X FOREIGN PATENTS 947,409 1/1964 Great Britain.

ROBERT F. WHITE, Primary Examiner.

K. I. HOVET, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 

